Europe’s energy crisis solar savings pass €10 billion

BRUSSELS, Belgium (20 May 2026): Europe’s existing solar power fleet has provided enough electricity to avoid 10 billion EUR of additional gas imports since this year’s Middle East conflict began, according to SolarPower Europe’s research. With 10 billion euros, the EU could have installed around 8 GW of solar, equivalent to 12% of last year's EU total installation, or 44 GWh of utility-scale battery power capacity, more than 3 times what the EU installed last year on that segment.

Solar was saving the EU an average of 110 million EUR per day in March when the conflict began. Natural gas prices have been elevated since March 1 when the conflict with Iran escalated. Heavily constrained shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and damage to fossil fuel infrastructure have raised prices. European gas futures peaked at more than 60 EUR/MWh in March, double the 30 EUR/MWh that they had been averaging in the months prior. There is deep uncertainty around medium-term pricing.

Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe (she/her) said: “The full costs of the energy crisis are still to be measured but it is a price Europe shouldn’t have to pay. Solar is showing the benefits of a renewable-first energy system. The savings since 1 March are equivalent to Belgium’s recent annual defence budgets. This is just a sample of what is possible. The energy crisis following the invasion of Ukraine is estimated to have cost 1.7 trillion EUR as bills spiked and governments looked to shield billpayers. Cutting the impact of gas on wholesale power prices must now be a priority.”

Under a Solar+ scenario developed by SolarPower Europe, greater deployment of solar and energy storage would halve EU power system costs by 2030.

“By adding more non-fossil flexibility in our system we can reduce the impact gas has on setting electricity prices. AccelerateEU is the first step, but we need concrete measures that can rapidly encourage higher levels of deployment and deeper electrification of our society and economy,” added Hemetsberger.

The European Commission unveiled its emergency toolbox ‘AccelerateEU’ last month. It aims at providing accelerated action to ensure affordable and secure energy for the EU’s citizens and businesses against the backdrop of the crisis.

Read our full briefing paper Solar and storage for EU energy security research.